Method of treating the contents of containers



W. B. FENN Aug. I2, 1930.

METHOD OF TREATING THE CONTENTS OF CONTAINERS Original Filed Feb. 15,1927 Patented Aug. 12, 1930 ITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE WILLIAM B. FENN,OF PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO MARGARET FENN, 0F PORTWASHINGTON, NEW YORK METHOD OF TREATING THE CONTENTS OF CONTAINERSOriginal application filed February 15, 1927, Serial No. 188,310.Divided and this application flied December 22, 1928.

This invention relates broadly to a novel method of vacuumizing,sterilizing and sealing containers.

The general object of this invenaion is the provision of a method ofvacuumizing, sterilizing and sealing containers holding perishableproducts.

These and other objects are successfully obteined by means of thisinvention.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No.168,310, filed February 15, 1927 for Method and means of sealingcontainers.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, arrangement,location and relative arrangement of parts and steps of procedure aswill appear from the following disclosure.

Referring to the drawings there is shown 1n-- Figure 1 is a top planview of a container provided with the valve of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3'is a bottom plan view of the cover for the container showing thebottom of the valve;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the valve disc; and

F ig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

In the modern methods of vacuumizing,

sterilizing and sealing containers the two main requisites are speed ofoperation and uniformity of product. Many methods have been devised forcarrying out these operations but none of them are particularly adaptedto meet the rapid production requirements of the present date. It is,therefore, one of the purposes of this invention to provlde a valvestructure for containers that permits of a high rate of production incanning procedure. I have found that by use of containers equipped withvalves of the type about to be described by me that a suitablyconstructed machine will thoroughly and completely vacuumize, sterilizeand seal cans or other containers at the rate of from one hundred to onehundred and fifty per minute.

Serial at. 327,788.

Referring to the drawings, the container is shown at 14. This containermay be of the usual metallic type or any other type as, for

center of this closure is shown a raised cylindrical portion which isdepressed into a plane disc-like center at 4 to'provide an annularpocket 3. An opening 5 is provided in the center of the plane surface 4and is preferably circular. It will be noticed that at the base of theprojection the diameter is slightly less than the diameter of theremaining portion and serves to hold therein a valve disc showngenerally at 10. This disc consists of a central fiat portion 6 having araised circular hump 7 and having its edges curved as at 8. The edgesare scalloped or notched as shown at 9. A suitable sealing compound isplaced within the pocket at 3, as shown at 11, and serves to form an airand liquid-tight joint as will appear shortly. To seal the container itis necessary to force the valve rigidly against the plane surface 4. sothat the hump 7 projects through the opening 5. To do this suitableclamping devices force the base portion of the projection 3 at the pointwhere it runs into the closure body itself, as shown at 12, radiallyinwardly so that the valve disc looking at Fig. 2 is firmly forcedagainst the can top so as to seat firmly in the sealing compound 3. Asuitable clamping device would consist, for instance, of a plurality ofarcuate jaws which, when finally forced together radially to form theba'se of the projection in its final shape, would form a complete circleThis container has been particularly devised to aid in carrying out aprocess developed by me which I will now describe and which is essentialto get rapid production. The containers after they have been filled withthe product to be sealed therein are fed to a machine having a suitableresilient seat therein to receive the raised portions of the containertop which forms a valve. It may be pointed out here that before thecontainers are sealed that the valve 6 merely fits loosely in theprojection and is held there by reason of the fact that the base portionof the projection is of slightly less diameter than the valve disc. Theintroduction of the container into this machine provides an airtightconnection between the topof the raised portion of the container and aconduit which connects to the vacuumizing device. At the same thecontainer is completely vacuumized the whole structure including thecontainer is rotated through 180 so as to invert the container. Steam isthen immediately fed to the interior of the container through the sameconduit as before. This inversion of the container is one of theessential features of my method which permits a high rate of production.I have found that the steam quickly and rapidly travels to every portionof the container to carry out this sterilizing and other functions in aminimum period of time. As soon as the sterilizing operation iscompleted the clamping jaws which have served to both hold the containeron the seat of the machine and to aid in its inversion are forcedinwardly radially to further reduce the diameter of the raised portionat 12 was to simultaneously close the container and seal it by embeddingthe valve'disc in the sealing compound. The sealing compound serves tostop up all openings, especially the notches on the periphery of thevalve disc. Instead of steam I can, of course, use any desired heatedmedium as water, air, or other gases, or syrups.

It will apparent from the foregoing description that I have provided anovel form of container and method of treating the same which isrelatively simple in construction and which permits of rapid andaccurate processing.

I am well aware that many changes in the details of constructionrelative to the arrangement of parts and association of steps willreadilyoccur to those skilled in the art without departing from theprinciples of my invention and I do not, therefore, desire to be limitedto theparticular features pointed out by me for illustrative purposes,but rather to the spirlt and scope of the invention as defined. l'ntheappended claims;

medium to the interior of said can and sealing I thevalve.

2. The method of treating containers and their contents comprisingvacuumizing a container, inverting the container, treating the containerwith a heated fluid under pressure and simultaneously closing and seahngsaid container.

3. The method of vacuumizing containers havin a valve therein whichcomprises h'olding said valve open, removing the gases therefrom,inverting the can, supplying a heating medium to the interior of saidcan and simultaneously closin and sealing said valve.

4. The metho of treating perishable products within containerscomprising the steps of removing the gases therefrom, inverting thecontainer, supplyin a heated gaseous medium to the interior 0 saidcontainer and simultaneously closing and sealing the container.

5. In the method of vacuumizing containers having a valve therein thesteps of bolding said valve open, removing the gases therefrom, Suppling a heated gaseous medium to the interior thereof, and simultaneouslyclosing and sealing the valve.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 21st day ofDecember A. D.,

WILLIAM B. FENN.

